Hand in Hand Global Mission Support Blog Digest

Evangelism is in the Bag at Epiphany Lutheran

Sometimes extending a warm welcome to new neighbors can yield big results.

That’s been the experience for Epiphany Lutheran Church in Eagle Lake, Minn.

A new “God’s work, Our hands” banner is proudly on display outside the church.

And the congregation has just started sponsoring a missionary in Chile through ELCA Global Mission.

Both projects were possible because of Epiphany’s “Welcome Bags.” This innovative program, launched in 2006, has raised over $2,000 to date for the congregation’s outreach and evangelism ministries.

Members of the Epiphany Evangelism and Outreach Team, from left: Will Behsman, Jerry Lamp, Regan Oian Vust, Brenda Oian Vust and Nadia Oian Vust. Photo credit: LeAnne Johansen

A Partnership of Welcome

Epiphany is located in a growing bedroom community outside of Mankato, Minn. When the congregation’s pastor, the Rev. Mary Iverson, noticed there was no “Welcome Wagon” service to greet the influx of new residents, she decided that Epiphany could step in to help.

So Pastor Iverson reached out to local businesses with the offer of a unique partnership. The “Welcome Bag” program was born.

Newcomers to the community are greeted with canvas bags printed with “Welcome to Eagle Lake—a service of Epiphany Lutheran Church.”

The bags are filled with resources to help new residents get settled in, including free gifts from merchants and information about Epiphany and its preschool, including a brochure, magnet, notepad and pen with the congregation’s contact information.

“The bank puts in nice rain gauges, a plumber has boxes of chocolates, the dentist gives sports water bottles and a toothbrush,” explains Pastor Iverson. “It’s a wonderful way to introduce new residents to community services and to their local ELCA congregation.”

A Congregational Commitment

It’s also been a wonderful way for Epiphany to raise money for its evangelism and outreach ministries.

Local businesses pay a fee to be included in the “Welcome Bag.” Epiphany’s Evangelism Committee assembles and addresses the bags and members of the congregation happily drop them off with new residents.

That’s Pastor Iverson’s favorite part of the program.

“I just love that our members are the ones who deliver them to their new neighbors. It may have been my idea, but [the implementation] has been 100 percent a program of our members. It’s not pastor-driven like so many things end up being in the church!

“We’ve delivered 100-150 bags to new residents every year,” Pastor Iverson reports. “So many visitors say that they received one of our ‘Welcome Bags,’ including a retired United Methodist pastor who now worships with us.”

The long-term benefits of this ministry have been remarkable. More visitors on Sunday mornings. Funding for new outreach initiatives. New partnerships in the local community and in Chile.

All thanks to Epiphany’s commitment to warmly welcoming the stranger.  [P.S.  from Sue:  Find this Story of Faith in Action (SOFIA) and other stories online at www.elca.org.]

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This gift-in-a-story is drawn from a communication the Rev. Charles Fredrickson sent to sponsors.  Pr. Fredrickson and his wife, Elizabeth Borstad, are ELCA missionaries serving in Japan.  Learn more about ELCA Missionary Sponsorship at www.elca.org/missionarysponsorship.  Enjoy!
On Christmas Day morning I was tempted not to answer the intercom for our front door downstairs.  My mother was visiting all the way from Texas and we were near the end of opening Christmas presents.  There were other factors, too, none of which worked in favor of answering the door.
I answered the door “Hi, moshi, moshi” in Japanese.  An answer came back in English over the intercom, “Hello!  This is Ichiro.  I would like a bicycle.”
Ichiro is a young medical doctor from Mongolia who received a scholarship from the Japanese government to work on a doctoral program at a medical university here in Nagoya, Japan.  Ichiro had recently moved into a building across the street from our church and had seen on our sign that we had English worship.  When he first came to our worship, just the week before, he reported that it was only the fourth time he had ever attended a Christian worship service.
Then it came back to me: on Ichiro’s second visit to the congregation—Christmas Eve—I had mentioned that we had an extra bicycle that he could use.  It had been left behind by a former attendee of our English worship service.
That fact that the bicycle had been sitting outside for over a year did not deter Ichiro. Together we got the bicycle out from where I had put it that afternoon after a family from Kentucky left it on the church parking lot before returning to the US.  Out it came from under the tarp, where it had sat neglected, now revealing its rust and two flat tires.
I went back into the church to get a tire pump, some WD 40 to spray on the rusty chain and sprocket, and a wrench to lower the seat for his smaller stature.  As he watched me and provided assistance when he could to get the bicycle in working order, we had a chance to talk.  I found out that his older brother had become a Christian in Mongolia several years ago.  Ichiro had attended worship once or twice with his brother and had witnessed his brother’s baptism.
After the bicycle was more or less serviceable I apologized for its “state” but told him that it now belonged to him.  This was not a rental; I did not want it back, it was a gift.  At that, he smiled broadly and his smile grew after he got on the bicycle and went around in circles, first slowly and then faster as he tested out the hand brakes and the handlebar gear shifts—completely new technology for him.  Before he rode off to go to the university library, he stopped and thanked me and said, “Thank you for my first Christmas present!”
I was somewhat taken aback because from the time I had debated opening the door, and while watching Ichiro riding in circles in front of me, I had momentarily forgotten it was not just any day.  It was Christmas Day, and here I had given him a “present.”
As I walked back upstairs to family, coffee and our Christmas celebration, I gave thanks for Ichiro, for a hand-me-down bicycle, and the opportunity to make God known.

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Q. When will the new Global Mission annual be available? 
A. The 2010-2011 Global Mission Support and Service Annual (GMS Annual) will be available in October. All covenant sponsors will receive the GMS Annual. To reserve a copy, call 800-638-3522 (RIS) or e-mail globalmissionsupport@elca.org.

Q. What Missionary Sponsorship resources are available for distribution in congregations, at assemblies and for other events?
The Global Mission Support team–Pr. Twila Schock, Sue Edison-Swift, and Kathleen West–are happy to send as many copies as you need of the current issue of the Hand in Hand newsletter. Find the newsletter articles and devotions available in reproducible formats at www.elca.org/handinhand.
Offering envelopes, tribute cards, covenant forms, and the “Hand in Hand Guide for Covenant Sponsors” are also available. Contact Sue Edison-Swift (800-638-3522, ext. 2969) to talk through options.

P.S. Check out the online Global Mission Epiphany devotions and Lenten Series.

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In the early morning hours of Jan. 9, the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Malaysia was attacked. A firebomb was thrown at the church, but it fortunately bounced off a window and just scorched the outside wall.

This was the fourth attack on a Christian church in Malaysia following a High Court decision on the use of the word “Allah” by Christians. The Catholic Church had for years used “Allah” in reference to God in its publications in the Malay language. But this usage had been banned two years ago by the government. But, on Dec. 31, 2009, the court ruled that the Christians could indeed use the name “Allah.” Both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars, theologians, historians and academicians have generally spoken in support of the fact that the word “Allah” is not used exclusively by Muslims.

Despite these acts of violence by just a few extremists and in the face of further possible attacks, Christians from all traditions returned to their respective churches for worship and prayer. Among the Lutheran churches, worship attendance was as usual. Bishop Philip Lok of the Lutheran Church in Malaysia said: “I must thank all our members for their courage to gather for worship as we have done in the past. We must never bow down to such hateful intimidations and allow fear to disrupt our Christian way of life.”

Meanwhile, further waves of attacks prompted churches, political parties and civil societies to come together in order to find a solution to prevent the country from spiraling further downward. One such meeting was hosted by the Lutheran church.

Bishop Lok writes: “The Lutheran Church in Malaysia, together with other Malaysian churches, humbly requests our sisters and brothers from the world-wide Lutheran Communion, to remember us and our nation in your prayers. Please intercede that the Prince of Peace will pour out his peace upon Malaysia and her people in these difficult times. Say a prayer for the safety of Christians in our country. Pray that God’s children will confront hatred with the love of Christ.”

Y. Franklin Ishida
Director for Asia and the Pacific, ELCA Global Mission

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The 2009 stats for the Hand in Hand blog digest.   Between the debut in early April and December 31, 2009, the blog enjoyed

• over 4,000 visits from 2,437 unique visitors.  This means that 57% of the visits were from first-time readers and 43% came from return visitors.
• visits from 85 countries and territories in addition to the U.S., especially Japan, Germany, Canada, Slovakia, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, India, South Africa, and Denmark.
• visits from all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The top-reading states are Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, California, New York, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, and Washington.

Most-visited posts in 2009 (not counting index pages):  ”Operation Thanks-Giving, ” “Green Church,” “YAGM 2010,” “Frosting” and “Cake,” “Berlin Wall,” “Viking blog,” “Dutcher,” “Daily Bread,” “You can do this,” “West Bank,” and “Ordinary Saints.”

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Global Mission Support staff are copied on the e-mails and newsletters that missionaries send to their sponsors.  I’ll share excerpts here as “Missionary Minutes.”  Here is a bit of a recent e-mail sent by the Rev. Suzanne Shoffner, an ELCA missionary serving in Palestine.–Sue Edison-Swift

Christmas Blessings
About Christmas…it lasts a long time over here! The Christians are in such a minority, but the “burbs” of Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala decorate lavishly and the Orthodox Christmas follows two weeks behind the “first” one, so the decorations stay around a while. The YAGM came to our home for Christmas Eve dinner and then we went to the candlelight service at Christmas Lutheran in Bethlehem. Manger Square is just a wonderland of lights, singing groups and masses of people.

Checkpoints and Chipmunks
Our Muslim neighbors were happy for us and would call out to us, “Eid Said” (Happy Holiday) as they saw us decorating our windows and home with lights, a small tree and a beautiful star.
One night last week a neighbor family came over for tea and cookies and brought small gifts for Martin and me.  They wanted to know if we had seen “chickpoints” and we felt sure they were asking about checkpoints. We told them the checkpoints have been particularly rough because we had gone from DCO to Gilo to Beit Sahour trying to get to Jerusalem the night before. The third checkpoint was finally the one that let us through.
The neighbor girls shook their heads and said, “No, not checkpoints, chikbunks, you know, Suzanne, little animals who talk and sing.”  They were asking about a film on TV here about Alvin and the Chipmunks! We all laughed and laughed and laughed again.–The Rev. Suzanne Shoffner, Palestine

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Epiphany is a quiet season, but don’t let that fool you.  Epiphany is more than a season of rest after the celebration of Christmas and before the journey of Lent.  Epiphany is as quiet and as powerful as light.  
          Epiphany is a shared season, a global season.  The light of Christ ignites this little light of mine, this little light of yours, this little light of ours.   Three magi–foreigners–find their way to Jesus, sharing gifts, and teaching generations where to find what they seek.
          Epiphany devotions written by ELCA Missionaries are offered to help illuminate the season.  Find them at www.elca.org/globalmission/epiphany.  
          Epiphany is the focus of the Winter 2009-2010 issue of the Hand in Hand newsletter.  Find the newsletter and related bulletin inserts online at www.elca.org/handinhand.   Consider distributing this issue of the newsletter during Epiphany.  Request as many copies as you can use by contacting Global Mission Support (800-638-3522, ext. 2657).

          Light-filled blessings!  Sue Edison-Swift

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As this Story of Faith in Action (SOFIA) illustrates, Operation Thanks-Giving blessed both giver and receiver.  Thanks to Marianne Griebler and Denise Brown for their work telling the story. Find this and other SOFIA stories under “Outreach” at www.elca.org/stories.  Find all the “Hand in Hand” blog digest posts related to Operation Thanks-Giving at http://blogs.elca.org/handinhand. Read on and enjoy an extra helping of thankfulness this Christmas season. –Sue Edison-Swift

Edwin Holmvig-Johnson’s first Thanksgiving as a missionary was also his first away from home.

Edwin is a Young Adult in Global Mission with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He teaches reading and writing to children in primary school in the U.K.

“My homesickness had been fairly stable up until that week,” he said. “The weather was gray and it starts to get dark here around 4:00 in the afternoon. It was a hard week.”

Then, a package from the ELCA churchwide organization in Chicago arrived.

Edwin opened it expecting to find official forms needing his John Hancock. Instead he found a package filled with handmade cards, compliments of the first annual Operation Thanks-giving, a new ELCA missionary support initiative.

“There were these fantastic cards and greetings from a congregation (Trinity Lutheran Church in Vale, N.C.) that I’d never met on the other side of ‘the Pond.’ It felt wonderful to know that I was being thought of and prayed for and made it easier to keep going,” Edwin said.

For her part, Ginger Crisman, evangelism committee chairperson at Trinity, was inspired by the idea of involving her congregation in Operation Thanks-giving. Early in November she supplied 150 worshipers with colored paper, crayons and pens prior to Sunday service. The Rev. John Locke encouraged each card-marker to say a prayer for the recipient of their creations.

Worshipers from age 3 to 83 put their artistic talent to use, creating about 93 cards for ELCA missionaries and 93 cards for military service personnel. “It was everything we hoped for,” Ginger said. “God works in big and little ways. This was a little way.”

“Show the Missionaries Some Love”

The Rev. Twila Schock, ELCA program director for Global Mission Support, knew this “little way” could have a big impact.

In 1994, Twila was a first-year missionary in Slovakia. The excitement of the assignment was wearing off by Thanksgiving, Twila recalled, when everything (language, shopping, daily routines) just seemed hard. But a Thanksgiving care package she received turned out to the best cure for homesickness.

Earlier this year, Twila shared her story with Sue Edison-Swift, associate director for Global Mission Support, and that was all Sue needed to hear. “We’ve got to show the missionaries some love,” she said, and the first annual Operation Thanks-giving was born.

Operation Thanks-giving took a page from Hand in Hand, the theme for the Global Mission Support newsletter. Card makers were asked to use their hands to draw and decorate turkeys on the cards.

This Thanksgiving, 258 ELA missionaries in five countries received a package of cards crafted by 15 congregations and two units at the churchwide organization. Some congregations choose to send cards directly to missionaries they support.

Having Faith in the Work that God Can Do

Those cards deeply touched Emily E. Ewing, a missionary in Rankovce, Slovakia, worlds away from her hometown of Vail, Colo.

“The fact that people I don’t know and who don’t know me sent me the cards was big for me,” she said. “It just shows so much faith in the work that God can do with each of us and faith in our church, as well, that they will send cards knowing that they’re going to someone who is far from home, following God’s call.

“It was really cool that so many people believe so strongly in the work God does with the church that they would send cards.”

On November 15 during Sunday school at St. John Lutheran Church of Farmersville in Easton, Pa., 22 people each made three cards for missionaries and military persons serving in Baghdad.

“We often hear about the needs of military units who are deployed over the holidays. I had never considered the same type of need for missionaries,” said the Rev. Roxi Kringle, pastor of St. John.

The excitement surrounding Operation Thanks-giving was contagious. “The (Sunday School) room was buzzing by the time I got down,” Pastor Kringle said. “A couple boys asked their recipients to write back. The thank you notes the church received from Iraq had the class beaming.”

A Wonderful Sense of Connection

Michael and Terri Church, a husband-and-wife pastor team serving as English-language mission developers in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, saw Thanksgiving arrive as they struggled to become acclimated with a new culture.

Hoping to downplay their loneliness by discounting the holiday, they decided to make Thanksgiving just another day. “Under my breath, I quoted a favorite line from (the movie) ‘Rocky’: ‘To you it’s Thanksgiving; to me it’s Thursday,’” Michael said.

What a difference a day can make.

“Friday’s mail brought our Operation Thanks-giving cards,” Michael said. “Completely unexpected, out of the blue, came these wonderful handmade cards from complete strangers, in Lutheran churches all over the country, reminding us that we weren’t alone, and that there were people at home giving thanks to God for all their blessings — and even that we ourselves, as missionaries, were one of those blessings. It gave us a wonderful sense of connection to our country and to our church.

“Thanks again to everybody who took part in it,” Michael added. “May God be with you all!”

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In a thank-you e-mail for the Operation Thanks-Giving greetings she received, Kristy Bergman, a Young Adult in Global Mission (YAGM) serving in Hungary, wrote “support sometimes comes in unexpected ways and from the most unexpected places.”  What a great nugget for an Advent! After all, Jesus Immanuel came to us—and continues to come to us—in unexpected ways and in unexpected places.  I invited Kristy to “say more.”  Unexpected blessings, Sue Edison-Swift

There are always surprises, always challenges, when you are serving abroad.  Like figuring out how to tell your vegetarian sister—coming to visit you in your Hungarian village for the holidays—that she has been invited to partake in a traditional Hungarian celebration: the Feast of Pig Killing.

I expected to encounter the unexpected during my year of service as a YAGM.  I didn’t expect the ways support comes in the most unexpected ways and from the most unexpected places.

For example:  One morning, after a particularly lonesome evening here in Hungary, I opened my e-mail inbox to find a kind and inspiring notes from a congregation member and the  director of the Bible camp where I used to work. While I was still at my computer, the post (mail) arrived, and with it a package of handmade Thanksgiving cards from strangers sent via Global Mission’s Operation Thanks-Giving. 

And, whether it is a kind hand on my shoulder, a hand drawn picture from one of the Roma children with whom I work, or a laugh shared with someone with whom I do not share a common language, I feel blessed by the people around me. God, through the people in our lives, provides the most powerful and incredible support, often in the ways and in the places we least expect it.

Isten aldjon (God bless),  Kristy
Kristy Bergman is a Young Adult in Global Mission (YAGM) serving in Hungary. 
Are you, or someone you know, a 19 to 29-year-old interested in, and gifted for, a year of Global Mission service?  In 2009, 50 young people were selected for a year of service as a YAGM.  Submit an application by February 15, 2010 for priority consideration; all applications for the YAGM Class of 2010 must be received by March 1.
Learn more at www.elca.org/yagm.

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